Stump burner



1,627,867 M 1927 H. L. REYNOLDS STUMP BURNER Filed Aug. 22, 1922 M WW 2050 Egg: 2.

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wfww Patented May 10, 1927.

UNITED STATES HENRY L. REYNOLDS, or SEATTLE, WASHINGTON.

STUMP BURNER.

Application filed August 22, 1922; Serial 1V0. 583,485.

The object of my invention is to produce a stump burner operable underthe same principles of combustion as that employed in the stump burnershown in the patent to Clark Smith, No. 1,065,738, issued June 24,191?), but of a simpler and improved type of construction andparticularly in providing means for supplying fuel for'ignition purposesafter starting operations.

My invention consists of an improved and simplified type of constructionwhich reduces the weight and first cost of the apparatus, contributes tothe ease ofhandling the same and facilitates the operation of the deviceparticularly in reducing the trouble and attention incurred ingetting'the fire properly started in the stump.

My invention consists of the novel parts and combinations of parts whichwill be hereinafter described and particularly pointed. outin the claim.

The accompanying drawingsillustrate constructions embodying myimprovements in a practical form. These drawings show preferred form ofconstruction.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a burner as applied to a stump tostart opera tions.

Figure 2 is an outer end elevation and, Figure 3 a plan view of theburner.

The central idea of stump burners operating on the principles ofcombustion used by me is the enclosure of a section of the face of thestump, building a fire against this enclosed face and supplying the airfor combustion solely through a blast pipe the discharge end of which isat the face of the stump within the enclosed area, whereby, the face ofthe stump will be ignited and by advancing the discharge end of theblast pipe as the stum burns away, a hole may be burned into theheart'of the stump thus using the outer walls of the stump to enclosethe fire and retain the heat.

The burner base is in the form of a casing having an open end or faceadapted to be placed against a face of a stump to enclose a limited areathereof. It has means for attaching a smoke stack thereto,-for insertinga blast pipe and for feedlng fuel thereto when and if this be necessary.

The casing 1 may be of arched or lnverted U-shape or of substantiallyany other cross sectional shape which provides a satisfactory furnace orfire chamber 10. Thls chamber may, but need not, be closed upon 1tsbottom side. I prefer to leave the bottom side open as the burner willrest upon the ground and the ground will close the lower side.

The casing has a flange 11, or other equivalent means whereby connectionmay be made with a smoke stack 2. A damper in the stack may be used tocontrol the draft.

At its face 13 opposite to that which is placed next to the stump, anopening 14 is left which is at least of suflicien't size to admit theair blast pipe 7. This entire end may be left open and its closuresecured by the use of a separate plate 4, which plate has a not-ch inits lower" edge sufficient to receive the air blast pipe.

Towards the end which is placed against the face of the stump, means areprovided for introducing fuel as needed: when igniting the stump. Whenwood is relied upon as the fire kindling fuel, this takes the form ofopening 12, registering with which is placed a short section of pipe 5to serve as a fuel feedinghopper and also to maintain a passage throughthe covering earth through which to introduce the additional fuelsupply. A cap will close this when fuel is not being inserted. As thisextends upwardly the fuel will feed down by grav- 35 ity. This placesthe fuel at the face of the stump where needed.

To strengthen the casting flanges 15 and 16 may be used.

marginal The fuel used may be any convenient and suitable combustible.Charcoal makes an excellent fire kindling material when available. Drywood cut to suitable size is very satisfactory. The supply of such fuelis not necessary after the ignition of the stump face.

The principle of operation of this device is the ignition of the face ofthe stump by using other fuel burnt within a closed chamber, inducing adraft by using a smoke stack ing fuel and also the manipulation of the119 air blast pipe.

In operating such a device the point of accordance with the principlesof char-pitting. The free exposure of the cavity in the stump to outsideair should be avoided by providing an external covering when the firebreaks through the walls. Tight joints are to be secured by the use ofearth or wet clay. In stump burners of this type where no means areprovided for convenient replenishing of the fuel needed to thoroughlyestablish the fire in the stump, it has been necessary to make thefurnace chamber quite large to thereby provide sufficient room to holdenough fuel to last long enough to get the stump well on fire, whichsize adds to its weight, both because of its increased size and becauseincrease in size necessitated increase in thickness to secure neededstrength.

It has been found by experience that to insure proper ignition of thestump, even if the furnace chamber be made quite large, it is necessaryto supply other fuel than that which may be placed therein on starting.It is also desirable to keep the enclosed area of the stump face assmall as possible, thus keeping the diameter of the outer end of thehole burnt in the stump as small as possible. To keep this area smalland supply enough fuel to ignite the stump it is necessary to providemeans for replenishing the fuel. This burner is believed to be the firstwhich has satisfactorily met these conditions.

WVhat I claim as my invention is:

A stump burner comprising a furnace casing having one end open to beplaced against the face of the stump to be burned and an opening at theopposite end for the accommodation with the first named opening of anair blast pipe, an air blastpipe adapted to pass through both saidopenings and movable lengthwise to maintain its discharge face close tothe burning face of the stump, said furnace casing having'an opening inits top for a stack connection and a. separate fuel feed opening betweenthe stack connection and the end of the casing which is placed againstthe stump, a draft stack and a feeding hopper for solid fuel adapted tobe connected with their respective openings in the casing to therebyinsure an efiective ignition of the body of the stump.

Signed at Seattle, King County, Washington, this 16th day of August1922.

HENRY L. REYNOLDS.

